


There And Back Again.

by CescaLR



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Tales from the Borderlands, Tales From the Borderlands, Time Travel, Vault of the Traveler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 01:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21467896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CescaLR/pseuds/CescaLR
Summary: "So," Sasha said, quietly. "... Jack?"Rhys sighed. "I'll call transport."
Relationships: Fiona & Rhys (Borderlands), Fiona & Sasha (Borderlands), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Rhys & Sasha (Borderlands), Rhys & Vaughn (Borderlands), Rhys/Sasha (Borderlands), etc
Kudos: 23





	There And Back Again.

**Author's Note:**

> Um... this fic is a test. Characterisation. It's been a while since I wrote for TFTB, and.... yeah so I'm kinda rescinding my promise about 'waiting until i'd played all the games and tftb again' because i just... wanted to write this? This is like, a teaser. Or something. 
> 
> Enjoy?

Rhys looked different. Oh, sure, Jack knows it has to have been a long ass time since he last saw him - long enough that he's got a new arm, long enough that he's got a new eye, long enough that he doesn't look one _millimetre _from collapsing, dead, on the floor, in a really hilarious and vindicating, _pathetic _death, 'cause he was _nothing _without Jack -

But here he was, very obviously _something, _and it had been long enough that Jack knows he'd done it all on his own. Kiddo'd grown up.

And here _Jack _was. So. Rhysie can't have grown all _that _much, if he's still this much of an _idiot. _

"Before you try anything," Rhys said, "You got what you wanted. A nice, fancy endoskeleton. You won't die the same way twice." Rhys shifted, on the spot, brought up that shiny new arm, different to the replacement he'd gotten for the helios mission, different still to his original. Some silver metal, newer and sleeker than the old one. Personally, Jack was partial to the yellow, or the black and gold - but not everyone can have good taste.

"What's the catch, pumpkin?" Jack asked, attempting to lean forward, to rest his elbows on his knees. He found he couldn't, and paused, mentally, briefly. He attempted to push, to lift his leg, but - he _couldn't - _and for a moment, he lost a bit of control, he scowled, a snarl on his face for - long enough, it seemed, because something triumphant flashed across Rhys' face, a smug smile spreading as he spoke. "You wanted control of my body," Rhys said, calmly. "Now I have control of _yours."_

Rhys did - something - some gesture with his arm, the metal one he'd brought up - an interface Jack couldn't read from the back (which was new, because usually, holograms didn't have reading-the-backwards-text-from-behind protections, which was _frustrating,_ because - what had Jack missed? What was he behind on? What did he think was possible that wasn't, anymore - what did he think _wasn't _possible that is, now, entirely something he could be capable of?) and - and Rhys did something on the interface, and Jack nearly fell forwards, his brain's commands to move finally catching up to his body.

Rhys snorted. 

Jack scowled, reflexively. Look, if you wore a mask all the time, and then spent a stint as a mostly unseen hologram, you'd forget to keep total control over your face, too.

Rhys was, by the way, sat on a chair across from Jack. Between them was some - protective something. Jack was in some kind of chamber of sorts, which was almost insulting, except Jack knew it was because Rhys knew he was _dangerous, _which turned the whole thing into a kind of back-handed, _Atlas-_tinged compliment.

Jack should have _never _told Rhys about that _deed.   
_

"You're in luck," Rhys said. "It's been a couple of years. People think I'm insane for having done this - they're not at the point of immediately running over to try and kill you again, anymore."

"Rhysie, didn't know you cared that much," Jack said.

Rhys smiled. "I don't," He said. "That's what stopped them from doing it. You know - that I didn't stop them from trying. They figured, well, you're the only AI we've got, and if we use you to test the tech, you know, nobody's going to complain if it goes awry."

Jack raises an eyebrow at the other man, who shrugs. "I have total control over your endoskeleton," Rhy said, simply. "I am not the only one, because that would be downright stupid. I can't be around you every second of every day, I'm a very busy man now." He smiled, proud, and it grated, because - if everything had gone right, if everything had gone well, Jack - Jack would be the one doing that, but it didn't, because he's here, stuck, in a pretty sticky situation.

Rhys would pay for this. He _would. _

"Sasha thinks I'm completely insane," Rhys said. "Her, Fiona - Vaughn. We all have control, just in case, and there are a few others I think you'll know, but I'm not telling you exactly who." Rhys smiled. "Keep you on your toes. Can't try to kill people, because - well, one flick of their finger and you're shut down. A different flick, and that's permanent."

Jack grit his teeth, hard enough to hear the grind.

"I'm just repaying the favour," Rhys said, and there's that coldness to his expression that Jack had been proud of, once. It's unfortunate that it's aimed Jack's way now, if only because at one point things had been all lined up for Jack to be the one wearing that expression, on that face. "You gave me the deeds to Atlas and Hyperion, right? And you wanted an endoskeleton. Well, congrats, you got what you wanted." Rhys smiled again. "On _my _terms." Rhys stood, moved the chair aside with a lame kick that sent the wheeled thing scattering across the tiled floor. They were - in a room, certainly, _obviously._ A lab, probably, but by the looks of it, it was also a med-bay of some type. A few workstations reminiscent of engineers and mechanics, too, were shoved up against the walls. It was terrible. No flair, no _grandeur. _Certainly not worthy of the _honour _of being the place Jack was brought back to _life._

_"_Welcome to the place I stitched myself back together," Rhys said, with an ironic twist to his lips. It was a bit ironic, really. Jack had sent Rhysie crawling here, to this shithole of a dead company's little _lab _and now, here Rhysie was, crawling right back to _Jack. _Going to the effort of bringing Jack back to life... what was the _point? _Oh, Jack was going to wring this opportunity for all it was worth, hopefully Rhys' neck, too, while he was at it - but _why? _Rhys and Jack, they're done with each other. Rhys has gotten all he can of what Jack could ever offer, would ever, _ever _offer - most people do not know about Angel, after all - and Jack - Jack _failed _at getting everything he could _squeeze _out of Rhysie. 

So why? Why bother? Jack certainly wouldn't have, if their situations were reversed.

There's a hiss, like something being depressurised, like an airlock being opened - and the shielding in front of Jack lifts up.

"We opened the Vault, by the way," Rhys said, casually. "It was - helpful."

"Helpful?" Jack demands, and he can't help the incredulity. Helpful didn't even come _close _to cutting the aid a Vault can give you.

Rhys hums in affirmation.

"_Helpful? " _Jack repeats, "Did I hear you right, there, kitten? Did ya just call a Vault _helpful, _of all the pathetic, insufficient words-"

"Coffee?" Rhys asked, then shrugged, and something - _flickered_ \- and he was - _gone. _Just like that but - then, the door opened, and Rhys was on the other side. It slid shut behind him with a _hiss, _like the whole damned room was sealed or something, and the man was holding two mugs of coffee in hand. both black.

"Somethin' you wanna tell me, Rhysie?" Jack asked. He didn't take the Coffee, so Rhys put it on a table cluttered with various tablets and bits and pieces of machinery.

"It was the Vault of the _Traveller," _Rhys said, extra emphasis on the last word. "Fiona and I went inside - and we came out eleven years, three months and twelve days earlier. That was a _mess._ I'm surprised we arrived at the exact same _time _of day, to be honest. And that Fiona's powers didn't mess up and stick us halfway up in the atmosphere." 

Jack picked up the coffee off the table, and downed it. "Space and time," He said. What Jack could _do, _with the ability to travel through _space and time..._

"Congrats," Rhys said, dryly. "You're one of the few that know."

Well, isn't he a _dumbass. _

"Why tell me, pumpkin?" Jack said. It was - or it, at least, indicated a weakness. And that, Jack could exploit.

Rhys just shrugged. _Shrugged. _

"It's been a long time," Rhys said, simply. "Twelve years ago things were - a lot different."

Jack _froze. _"Who did you meet?" He asked, "Rhys, _who did you meet, kiddo."_

Rhys didn't deign him with an immediate answer, as he should - the man just drank from his coffee. Jack wanted to _throttle _him, but he could _feel _that that wouldn't be a good idea, and not just because Rhys could freeze him in place if he wanted.

"I met _you," _Rhys said. "And, man, you were _different. _Almost couldn't believe it was you - except it was, really, you could tell pretty easily, just the whole megalomania was missing - or at least, deeply hidden - which was _weird. _Fiona nearly shot you because of it, she was so surprised. I mean, _I _nearly shot you because you've tried to kill me and I thought I should return the favour, but, _timelines. _Not worth it. We're pretty alright now, all things considered." Rhys shrugged. "And we can't change that much anyway. I can _travel _through time, not _change historic events. _Like Fiona can _travel _through space, not _change where things are."_

That was the shittiest superpower he'd ever heard of. In terms of time-travel, that is. What kind of time-travel super-power doesn't let you change past events?

"Lucky that I only age once I catch up with myself," Rhys said, "We spent a good four years figuring out how it all worked - I mean, since Fiona kept nearly killing us both when she teleported we figured it'd be even worse to do a big jump in time without the practice. The fact that there were two Fiona's running around was a bit of an issue, to be fair, but... not a huge one. Turns out - when you go back in time - since you have to live long enough to do that - you become a kind of _constant. _Like, Fiona and the me that was in college then. Which, thinking about it, probably one of the only reasons we both survived our respective lives at that point." He tilted his head. "I mean - the young Fiona got shot really badly at one point, but she didn't die, because she couldn't, because the older version of herself was there." Rhys shrugged. "It was... a time. We figured it out, we're back, and my power is mostly useless except for arriving at things on time and being unable to say 'i forgot' as an excuse for missing events. And meetings."

"Kitten, no power is ever _useless," _Jack said.

Rhys snorted, again. "You had all the power in the _galaxy, _Jack. And it was useless to you, in the end."

* * *

"Did he try to kill you?"

"Surprisingly, no," Rhys said, dropping into his chair. Fiona turned around, stopped leaning against his window. "Guess you win the bet, then."

"Guess I do," Rhys said. He tossed the cube with the as of six months ago completely useless echo eye implant in it up and down in his hand. Now it really was just a reminder, instead of a dangerous device that could bring back Jack at any moment, shadowing his every thought and action.

Because it had been. In the way of _stressing him the hell out, _that is.

"Congrats," Fiona smirked. "You win 'not being dead.'"

"What a prize," Rhys said, frowning at the cube.

Fiona sighed, dropped onto the chair in front of his desk. She plucked the cube from his hand, which she could do at all because he'd been holding it in his flesh-and-blood one. "So. Jack's back."

"Yep." Rhys said, popping the 'p'. It was obvious Fiona didn't know what to think about it, which were the exact same thoughts running around Rhys' head.

Jack _had _been different, before the Warrior. Just like they'd been different, before the Traveller, but at least _they _hadn't turned into murderous jackasses.

(Pardon the pun.)

To be fair, though, putting aside everything else - betrayal could do a lot to a person. Rhys hadn't dealt very well with Yvette's... whole deal. And the deal Vaughn had made, in the beginning - god. Rhys had dealt poorly with that, too. He hadn't tried to murder Vaughn, obviously, Vaughn was his bro. But - _but. _The fact that Yvette wasn't running around Helios' wreckage, helping Vaughn run his weird cult, that... that was Rhys' fault. In it's entirety, and he regrets it _every single day. _Jack never regretted any of the things he did, or at least, if he did he never showed it. The only - the only time Rhys could tell Jack felt _something _it was about Angel. Rhys had - found out she'd died, later on, after the Vault and - he wasn't sure how to break the news. Obviously, this AI had been made before it happened, but Rhys had found himself questioning after he'd learnt that Angel was dead - how much was the Jack he'd known missing, memory-wise? Rhys and Fiona had learnt a lot more than they'd perhaps ever wanted to, in travelling through time, but...

It was a mess, the whole situation.

Fiona put the cube on the desk, softly. It sat, innocuous as it was, on the table between them. "I'll tell Sasha," Fiona said, and then she was still, a flicker of her, ghostly, suspended in the air - then gone. 

Rhys ran a hand down his face, then sighed. He commed his secretary and told her to postpone the R&D meeting an hour. He just - he needed a little time to prepare himself, and using his powers, while not particularly tiring for short jumps, was just... not something he wanted to do, right now.

* * *

After the meeting, which went as smooth as butter - for Rhys, it's been a long time since Jack was a threat, but for some of the people here, those of whom that were ex-Hyperion, it had not been long enough, and sometimes meetings went awry because they kept expecting to be thrown out of a non-existant airlock whenever something wasn't going one-hundred percent better than according to plan - was over, Rhys sent a message over Echo to Vaughn. Short and simple.

_Jack's back online._

That might've given Vaughn a heart-attack a few years ago, but, it's been over a year since they tackled the Vault, and it's been a long, long time since Helios fell. 

_I hope you know what you're doing, bro. _

Rhys empathises because he does as well.

_**Me too.** _

_That's not reassuring, you know that, right?_

_Still._

_Get Fiona to teleport you over here, Sasha's on-site and she wants a chat._

** _Really?_ **

_Yep, not as busy as she's been. Might be your only chance to see her for a little while. Bro, just get over here.  
_

** _I've got a meeting._ **

He did, in fact, have another meeting, in twenty minutes.

_So be here an hour ago, dude, she'll be gone by nine._

** _Am?_ **

_Pm._

Ah.

** _Alright. I'll be there an hour ago._ **

_And not a second later, bro. But be as early as you like. Eric wants your opinion on the new statue they've made.  
_

_ **Are you serious?  
** _

_Hey, you told me you kinda liked it.  
_

** _I asked if I'd be an asshole if I did, not *that* I did._ **

_Bro, don't lie to me. Come on, he's gotten into sculpture. And it's better than your name just being spray-painted onto a headless Jack, right?  
_

** _Miles._ **

_See?_

_Besides, it's a better pastime for him than worrying about getting kicked out of no-longer-existing airlocks every time he files a report with one single typo in it. _

** _I'm not Jack. I don't want that kind of hero-worship._ **

_Too late, bro.   
_

** _Could you at least try to make the cult chill a bit when I'm there, man?_ **

_Ask me an hour ago. When you get here. Man, that's still weird.  
_

** _Alright. It really is, though. But no weirder than you being a cult leader.  
_ **

_True that.   
_

Rhys turned the corner, went through his secretary, Gina's, office and through the hidden panel at the back of his office into the (relatively newly) secret hallways. This was just a small section of the facility that had been sectioned off for his personal use; it was the part he'd secreted himself away in, when he was recovering after ripping Jack out of his head and his arm off his body, and where he'd done most of the first projects that were able to lift Atlas back out of the ground, to restore the dead company to life and relevance. Gina had been an early acquisition - she'd been very new to Hyperion, when Helios fell, and she'd lived a relatively dangerous life beforehand too, so Pandora hadn't treated her _too _terribly, except for the missing leg. Rhy had built her one, and in payment she'd helped him out, and... never really left. A lot of his employees were like that - it turns out, down here, it's easier to hire people through happenstance. Applications don't tend to really be a thing, on Pandora, and frankly, Rhys remembers what it was like to file them out on Helios. No thanks.

Anyway. Only a couple people knew about this part of the facility, Gina being one of them. The point is - this part is where his room is, his bathroom is, his lab is, and other random workshops. The lab was really just a first-aid room, originally, and he'd spent most of his time there in the first year. Recovering from what had happened took a while, and it took nearly two years to meet Gina, who'd really ben his first employee. So...

Yeah.

Rhys takes the elevator at the end of the hall, down a couple of floors. A couple of fun secret tunnels later, and he's out the secret CEO escape route Atlas had apparently designed into the schematics of all their facilities because he'd found one of these in basically the same place in all the Atlas buildings that were left (before he'd had more built, of course, which had their escape routes in different places because he was _not _an imbecile). It - probably wasn't a 'CEO' escape route, more just a general evacuation route, but... you know. The main access is from the elevator which requires CEO identification to use, and the ability to go through the main office to the back rooms, so...

Anyway. Rhys can't travel through _space, _just _time, _so he went to Rodrigo and requested transport over to Helios. Being CEO, and all, they wouldn't exactly let him run around without backup on _Pandora, _of all planets, so he, unfortunately, these days required at least a bodyguard if he didn't want Gina yelling at him when he got back to HQ after a trip to see Vaughn and the others.

Jaina was free, which is fine. Jaina's nice. If you're wondering, Rhys _has _met all his employees, so far, and he has personally vetted each and every one of them. The time-travel powers help in that endeavour, he'll admit, and they helped shrink down the expansion of Atlas into more of an explosion, which took about two months after the vault. It did mean he had to keep track of a lot of names, and a lot of faces - but he would _not _be Jack. He refused, and he plainly refused to be Hyperion - to hire the type of people Hyperion did. Because, truth be told, he and Vaughn _were _assholes, at the start of all this, or they wouldn't have willingly signed up to Hyperion. They just wouldn't. Even before Jack, it wasn't the best company around, morals and ethics wise. And they would've cared, more, that job positions came up because people got shunted out of airlocks. But they just hadn't, really. They did _now, _but the people they were when they were hired to Hyperion - that's not the sort of person Rhys wants to hire himself. So, yes - hypothetically, if he had to look at his own application to Hyperion and treat it as some random person applying for a job in Atlas - he'd turn _himself _down. That version of himself. He's a lot better now, as a person, and in terms of skill, which is good, otherwise the last few years of his life would have been a total waste of time.

Not that Rhys _can _waste time, these days, but you get what he means.

Rhys sat in Jaina's armoured van. It was _hardcore, _really, and it had to be - Jaina did a lot of races, and Pandora wasn't kind to anyone, in any way. Races weren't fair, and if you didn't have a gun or five mounted to your vehicle you were just being stupid. Jaina had three turrets. And a deployable sentry drone. And a rocket launcher.

And this was on her _simple _vehicle. Not the one she races in, but she treats that thing like it's a fucking vault key.

"Boss," She smiled, nodded to him as he slammed the door shut, wincing. He still wasn't used to the more recent upgrades to his arm - better everything always meant more strength, and it took him a month or two to learn the limits and the effort he needed to _not _put into things.

"Careful," Jaina said, mild warning to her tone, but a teasing smile on her face. "Gun it or amble?" She asked.

"Avoid the bandits," Rhys said.

"Severe amble, got it." When Jaina said 'gun it', she did not mean 'put my foot on the gas as hard as I can', she meant 'do you want to go the most dangerous route we can and, in turn, have to shoot at things to get through'.

_Pandorans. _

Rhys laughed, a little nervous, because, right, he'd survived on Pandora for a long-ass while, now, but that did not mean he was wholly comfortable with coming face-to-severed-face with the bandit population of the planet. In fact, it meant he knew his best chances of survival lay in staying as far away from those psychos - literally, gvien, you know, that's what they're _called_ \- as was humanly possible.

"You're no fun," Jaina said, "You're on the big gun if we come across any rakks, yeah?"

Rhys nodded, and Jaina floored the gas pedal.

* * *

Jaina was gone in a cloud of Pandoran sandy-dusty-dirt, as Rhys walked up to the doors of Helios. The person on guard widened their eyes behind their helmet before hastily dropping their gun in an attempt to open the gate for him.

Rhys sighed, mentally. This is why he preferred it when Fiona dropped him off in Vaughn's office.

"Thanks," Rhys said, awkwardly. The guard saluted, then looked mildly mortified, and attempted to shut the gate behind him, pressing the button attached to their belt multiple times in rapid succession, as if hoping that would make it go quicker.

Rhys winced in sympathy - it's an unfortunate thought, but he's not sure he'd have been much better if he'd met is own hero back on Helios, nevermind that that hero had been Jack, because let's be honest, Rhys was never a very good judge of character - before finding a corner to hide in, then travelling back an hour. That was the easy part. When he appeared an hour in the past, he commed Vaughn, who showed up a minute later, Sasha and Fiona in tow.

"See you in a minute," Fiona said, letting go of her sister and Vaughn, before disappearing again, on her way to visit him at Atlas.

Ack. Time-travel was still a bit weird. You'd have thought a year would be long enough to get used to it, given that him and Fiona had had another whole four years on top of that _and _the culture shock of being thrown eleven years in the past, which means they really had had _five _years, _twelve _years apart, in order to get used to it... but, alas.

"Hey, Atlas," Sasha smiled. Beautiful, as always. She'd done something new with her hair. Fiona'd given her blessing and all, and - and he really did like Sasha, and she liked him, which was _very _nice, but they were both just... way too busy to start anything yet. When it settled down, and by 'it' he means 'their lives', then, definitely, but not - not yet.

"You look pretty," Rhys blurted out, like a fool, and Sasha's smile brightened. She walked over and gave him a hug, arms tightening around his waist as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "It's good to see you," She said, muffled by his jacket before she stepped back. Rhys smiled. She punched him in the arm, but not the flesh one. "You shouldn't have done it alone," She said, annoyed, obviously talking about the whole 'reviving Jack' thing, because there wasn't really anything else she would be talking about with that expression on. "You know what he's like. One of us - we should've been there with you."

"He was surprisingly subdued," Rhys said, shrugging. "Didn't even try to kill me once, well - except for when he woke up, but I think that was mostly the shock of being alive again. After I locked him back under and woke him up in the cell, he was a lot better behaved, and - also didn't once try to attack me through the shielding."

Sasha pursed her lips. "Just let one of us be there next time," She said.

"If I can't handle him alone now," Rhys said, "What was the point of any of it? Being sent to that specific point in time. Learning what happened - what led to where we are now. What was the point of that?"

Sasha sighed. "I just hope you and Fi know what you're doing," She said.

"Talked to Fiona about it?" Rhys asked.

"Loudly, many times, and thankfully not in front of the others," Vaughn piped up. "How've you been?"

"Alright," Rhys said, as Sasha sent a mock glare at Vaughn for the latter half of the comment. "It's very weird that Jack's alive again and nobody except us knows about it - but... you know, that's what that is."

"Yeah." Vaughn grimaced.

"Come on," Sasha said. "That weirdo who runs the sculpture sessions - what's his name, e..."

"Eric," Vaughn supplied.

"Yeah, him," Sasha grimaced. "He's been raving about replacing the statue again."

"It would be nice if we didn't have Handsome Jack's not-so-handsome headless body looming above us when we walk in," Vaughn said, then sighed, "But it would also be nice not to have your face carved into stone at the entrance of my home, bro, no offence."

"None taken," Rhys said, "I wouldn't want that either."

"Good," Sasha said, grabbing onto his elbow and guiding him out of the hidden corner into the main complex. "Let's tell Eric that."

"Aww, and break his hopes and dreams?" Rhys asked. "I'd feel kind of mean."

"Not to mention awkward," Vaughn grinned. "You run away every time you see him, it's actually kind of funny."

"Ha-ha," Rhys said, flatly. Sasha smiled, then dropped the expression as she caught sight of the person in question.

"Eric," She said, loudly. Eric turned, stared, and then bowed very deeply. Rhys tried not to wince too obviously. Vaughn had no such concerns and cringed enough for both of them. Which _was _maybe a _bit _much, but so was the _bow_, so...

Rhys tensed, a bit, and Sasha squeezed his elbow - the flesh one was the one she was holding, otherwise he wouldn't have felt that properly. He took it for the 'don't try and run away, asshole, if you have to deal with this so do I' it was - or, well, it could've been a reassurance, too - and half-grimaced at Eric. "So," He said, awkwardly.

Unfortunately, a year was not long enough for hero-worship to wear off. Given it had been around since the fall of Helios, despite all the people that died (Rhys is _definitely _not a hero, because no hero would've caused that much _death)... _well, it's probably not going to fade any time soon. In fact, if Eric's any indication, well, it seems to have gotten _worse._

... Let's hope they never find out what actually happened before the fall of Helios. They might try to make a day of celebration where they burn an effigy of Yvette, or something equally horrifying. Eric's that type, Rhys is certain. 

Shame they can't get rid of the guy. But, they're better than Hyperion was, better than _Jack. _So - they're stuck with him. At least Rhys doesn't have to see him very often - and, fine, Vaughn is right. When Rhys is here he runs around corners and time-travells in order to avoid him, but who could blame him for that? The man wants to build a statue of him. _A statue. _Rhys does not deserve a proper statue. Spray-painting his name over a statue of Jack which lost its head is fine. That's almost satisfying, given what Jack tried to do. Ha! You want Rhys' body? Well, now people are using _your _body as a stand-in for Rhys, so, take that, Jack. But - Rhys doesn't find any satisfaction in an actual _statue _of himself - that's. Narcissistic at _best. _Jack-like at worst, and Rhys lives his life these days by the tenants of 'What Would Jack Not Do'.

He hasn't failed yet, doing that.

And Jack, in his place, wouldn't have brought back Jack. So... here they are.

And, unfortunately, here Rhys is, faced with the unenviable task of telling Eric he doesn't actually want a statue built in his honour, even as the man stands before it, chisel in hand. It's very impressive. And a very big waste of stone and metal. Man, he even got the arm _right. _Not the one he's wearing now, which wouldn't be possible since he got it a month ago, but the one he'd had for the Helios mission. It is kind of a pity, because he'd liked that arm, if he's honest. He's had silver for a while, but - hmm. It was a good arm. 

Anyway.

"Uh," Rhys started. Eric was looking at him expectantly, eyes a little too wide, grin a little too happy. He put _fanatic _into the term 'fanboy', if Rhys is honest. Thank god he's not trying to make an AI of Rhys, at least. Well. It's a good thing he's more creatively inclined than scientifically, because Rhys isn't sure what he'd do if he was, and he really doesn't want to.

The last thing Rhys wants is to have to _hire _the guy because he's _good _at something Atlas needs. He'd shudder at the thought, but he feels a bit frozen under all the stares of - well, of his fans. Because Eric isn't alone, of course not, that would be too easy. Someone's working on the arm, a metal-worker, probably one of the engineers. Someone's studying his face as he stands there, and is chipping away at the face carved into the rock, trying to get it's scary-close likeness even closer.

"Uh," Rhys attempted, again, to start what he needed to say.

"So, we were thinking," Eric said, brightly, "That is _incredibly _disrespectful to have your name on... _that _statue, I mean, he was such a rat fucking bastard, and then there's _you, _so - here!" He gestures, brightly, to the statue, and the blonde next to him who is working on his jacket ducks under the arm he throws out. There's another person with their back turned, who keeps brushing their hair behind their ear as they painstakingly paint his tattoo to peak past his collar. It's very good work, to give credit where credit is due, but he'd really rather they hadn't bothered.

This is going to suck. He could, of course, go back and tell Eric to do none of this, if his power was actually _useful. _As it was, he'd probably have the unfortunate luck of being the one to put the idea in his head to do it if he tried, thereby changing the timeline in literally no way at all, except in the fact that this part would be _more _difficult. Argh.

"What do you think?" Eric asked, smiling still, far too bright. The blonde turns questioning eyes his way. The metal-worker, a woman with close-cropped brown hair, pushes up the protective mask and looks at him expectantly, eyes solemn. The painter drops down off the step and turns, smearing blue on his cheek as he brushed his hair behind his ear again. All of them turn to him, all of them expecting, waiting, hoping, their breaths held sharply in their lungs, terrified that he won't like it, horrified that they could have done a bad job, wishing he'd love it, wishing they'd known just what to do. Because, frankly, this is _all _these people know what to do. _Hall of Heroism. _It's not their fault their only mark of a hero was _Jack. _And Rhys - Rhys isn't a hero, not even close.

A bit like Jack, in that respect. It rankles, it does, it _really, really does._

"Um," Rhys finds he can't say what he needs to, not right now. "It's very well made," He blurts out, and then cringes internally. Sasha's hand drops to his wrist, her nails dig into the soft flesh there. "Really?" She hisses, under her breath.

_**Well, it is,** _He sends, quietly, haplessly, over Echo. Her device dings, she checks it, and then sighs. 

_Rhys._

Rhys sighs. "I just..."

Blonde bursts into tears. Rhys falters, stares, horrified.

"Sarah!" Eric snaps. Sarah sucks in a breath, hiccups as she tries to breathe through her tears. She wiped furiously at her eyes. "Sorry! Sorry!" She blinked rapidly. "You - you don't like it, do you?" She asked.

Rhys winced, externally. She started sobbing again.

"That's - it's not -"

Rhys sucked in a breath and went back in time to midnight. He marked _exactly _where he was, saved the location data in his echo, then went to go find Fiona.

* * *

She was in the bar, thankfully awake.

"So," Rhys said, "Eric had a statue and I made Sarah cry because I don't really want one."

"Great," Fiona said. "I'd say I told you so about the cult, but I never actually got the chance."

"I'll take the spirit of it," He said. "But please. Just. Advice."

"Walk away." Fiona said. "They know Heroes aren't always what they make them out to be. They worshipped Jack at one point. Make them know you don't want that. Make them know you aren't _Jack."_

"They know that!" Rhys said. "Vaughn told me they have a day where they build an effigy of Jack and then set it on fire and throw it to the rakks. And then they bomb the area, just to be sure everyone knows how much they hate Jack."

Fiona laughed. "Yeah, I've attended. Good times."

"**Worrying** times," Rhys said. "If I disappoint them - _I don't want to be thrown to the rakks."_

"Oh, good point." Fiona leaned on the bar, then shrugged and turned around. "Drink?" She asked.

"_Please,"_ Rhys said.

* * *

Rhys woke up, hungover, on the couch in Fiona's room, boots on the floor and his jacket as a makeshift cover. He grimaced, stretched, yawned, cracked his neck and rolled his shoulder. He was able to sleep perfectly comfortable with his arm on because on Pandora he couldn't be safe without it - but it wasn't a great idea to lie directly on the thing. Oh well.

Rhys rubbed at his stiff, midly sore shoulder, as he sat up.

"You're up." Fiona said, slamming a mug onto the coffee table. "Drink up, time-travel, and get where you're supposed to be."

Rhys groaned. "Ugh," He said.

"Shouldn't have drunk so much," Fiona said, wisely, while she rubbed at her head with one hand and held, very protectively, a coffee mug very close to her face with the other. Hypocrite. "Drink up. It'll cure your hangover."

Rhys did as commanded, and it did as promised. Half-an-hour after he woke, Rhys was back in the square, at midnight. He waited until his other self was gone, then went and stood where he'd been standing, and time-travelled to exactly the point he'd left at, not allowing for any flickering at all.

"Alright," He said, grimacing, and he winced again. "Okay, I... I don't - I really do appreciate all the hard work you've done, and I'm very grateful and all but I just, I don't - I don't want a statue."

"But - Heroes get statues." The painter said. "Elias," Eric hissed, then grinned wider at Rhys.

"No, of course, you don't! This was - this was a ridiculous idea." Sarah's crying grew louder. "We'll just - we'll take down the statue at the entrance, because - because it was rude, really, painting your name on _his _body, you deserve more respect than that - and - and that is _particularly _gaudy, having a statue representing you at the entrance to - no wonder - I do apologise." Eric went into another uncomfortable bow. "Well - of course, I totally understand, it's - plainly ridiculous to plaster your image everywhere, I mean, you aren't _Jack." _He laughed, high and reedy. "We'll simply put it with the storage and bring it out for celebrations, as is _respectable." _He nodded, decisively. "Which is good, because of the weather here! Dreadful. It'd ruin the arm and the paint! Unacceptable." The man continued to mutter to himself.

"You deserve every statue we build, Rhys." The metal-worker said, solemn. "_Atlas. Forced to hold up the sky. _We will stand by you in your endeavours. And if you don't want statues, then we will not force you to see them."

With that, she put down her protective mask and went back to cleaning up the gold on the arm.

"Um," Rhys said. "Okay?..."

"Storage?" Sasha asked.

"You know," Eric smiled, "The - ah, well, the - the hall of heroes survived, and it really does need redecoration, we were thinking of adding some - but of course, it would not just be of Rhys! He's not _Jack. _He's a _Hero - _you, you are a hero, unlike _him._" Eric nodded. "Our leader, of course," He sends a respectful nod Vaughn's way, "And you yourself, and your sister - the robots - the people who helped, of course, because you're all heroes! But. No offence, of course, none at all - but," He bowed again, to Rhys, and then straightened and shrugged apologetically at Sasha. "Our loyalties lie in specific places."

Rhys winced. Eric did not notice, but Sarah started crying, again. 

Eric sent an irritated but sympathetic glance her way, then stared unblinkingly at Rhys, eyes too wide and grin too happy again. "That is, with _you, _Rhys," And he bowed again.

Rhys grimaced. Sarah started sobbing, and fled the area, red with embarrassment.

"Don't feel too bad," Elias said. "She cries at everything. The wind could be blowing the wrong way one day - if it blows at all - and she'll burst into tears. Once, Sarah dropped a leaf on the ground and I couldn't console her for _four days."_

"That's... not healthy," Vaughn said. "If - I've gotta go..."

"Go," Sasha said. Rhys waved, awkwardly, and Vaughn went after Sarah.

"Nobody on Helios cared much," Elias said, shrugging. "We're working on it. You know. That people do, now."

Rhys frowned. Elias must have taken it as wanting clarification. "She's my little sister," Elias sighed. "And on Helios - well. When you have no-one you can trust, that matters a _lot."_

"It does," Sasha said, simply. 

Really, sometimes, Hyperions and Pandorans had a surprising amount in common. Frankly, it's probably the atmosphere of 'one wrong move can get you killed' that their living environments both yell out at the top of their lungs to anyone that could possibly hear that makes it so, Rhys is pretty certain.

Elias shrugged. "Can I have a look at your neck?" He asked Rhys, tentatively. "I don't think I'm getting the pattern quite right."

"Uhm," Rhys said, then shrugged, and tugged his collar aside. He narrowed his eyes - oh, both of them were blue, as in, _echo-eye blue - _and then turned back to the statue. "Thank you," He said, and got back to work.

Sasha raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. She rolled her eyes.

"Do you have the schematics of your old arm?" The metal-worker said. "It could be useful in recreating the inner workings."

One better, he _has _the old arm. In storage, given how the thing's completely useless since he literally ripped it from its socket, but he has it.

"Uh, yeah," Rhys said. "I mean, I have it, still."

He'd taken it with him, along with his eye, and his port. He'd needed them - he knew how to build them, of course, but, without his echo-eye... and anyway. He hadn't wanted some random pandoran to find them and take them. They were _his. _

"You do?" She lifted her mask, and dropped down. "At Atlas?"

"Yeah," He said. "I can - I can get you the schematics."

"Awesome," She breathed, grinning. The woman blinked, and then schooled herself back into her previous, very solemn, countenance. Oh. Defence mechanism. Of course.

"Thank you." She said, very seriously, and then went back over to the statue, pulling her mask down over her face.

"We'll leave you to it," Sasha said. Eric nodded sharply, then turned back to the statue. They turned away as he raised his chisel, and the sounds of metal chipping at stone could be heard, along with the other sounds the group were making, as Sasha once again guided him by the elbow, this time _away_ from the crazy cult people.

"So," Sasha said, quietly. "... Jack?"

Rhys sighed. "I'll call transport."

* * *


End file.
